There’s Been a Mutiny

Whilst much has been written and speculated about the circumstances surrounding the mutiny on HMS Bounty, it is a fact that a Bible given by the Bible Society to an officer on that ship (in 1787) was providently saved when Bounty was wrecked (1790). That Bible was used by the last surviving mutineer (Smith) to seek God, Smith then taught the islanders to read and follow Christian principles using that Bible. In 1814 a visiting Royal Navy crew found a thriving Christian community and this echoed in a following visit by Captain J Jones RN visit in 1842 when he also found a thriving group of Christian islanders. The Bible was given to an American sailor in 1859 and later returned to the island where it is still on display.